Contents
...Main pages
- Why does the question matter?
- Fundamental principles of science
- Methods used in science
- Justification for this description of science
- What is not science?
- Good science and bad science
- How reliable is science?
- Where can scientific methods be used?
- Evidence-based policy making
Appendices
Downloadable .pdf
About the author
What is not science?
It helps to understand what science is by considering what is not science, including:- Pseudoscience
- Philosophy
- Philosophy of science
- Technology
- Advertising
Pseudoscience
One published definition of pseudoscience is "a collection of beliefs or practices mistakenly regarded as being based on scientific method" [1].Astrology is often cited as an example of a pseudoscience. The departures from scientific methods might be, for example, that evidence was collected selectively rather than in an unbiased way, or there might be an over-emphasis on case histories. The key thing is not the field of study (for example, one might carry out a proper scientific study to assess whether there is any relationship between birth date and personality), but the methods used, and the intention.
Philosophical questions
There are some questions that we feel do not have correct answers, because there is no agreed way of deciding what is correct. And yet, of the answers that we come across to these question, some answers seem better than others, and we feel that we want to give the best answer to the question that we can. We feel that we should choose the best answer (in each case). These kinds of questions are philosophical questions .How should we answer philosophical questions?
If there is not a correct answer to a question, how should we choose the best answer? The answer seems to be
- on the basis of what seems sensible, which might also be termed "face validity" or "common sense",
- on the basis of what seems to fit with our (or my) experiences (i.e. general experiences rather than the structured categorized experiences used in science),
- to aim for consistency with other "best answers" that we want to give to related questions.
This seems to be the best answer to this question of how should we choose best answers.
References
[1] The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998), Ed. Judy Pearsall, Clarendon Press. Oxford. There is also an identical definition at http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/pseudoscience, viewed 31.10.2013.Last updated: 14 Apr 2018
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